Systimax Solutions is a worldwide leader in structured cabling systems and has been active in the Middle East for 15 years. The company provides integrated end-to-end connectivity solutions for voice, data, video and building management applications in both wired and wireless enterprise networks. The company’s product range includes the copper-based GigaSpeed X10D and Giga-Speed XL solutions, the fibre optic LazrSpeed and TeraSpeed solutions, and the intelligent patching iPatch system. “Some companies think that simply by putting together various parts from other suppliers they can effectively manufacture their own solution. However, by providing our own end-to-end solutions, and not outsourcing anything, we are able to guarantee performance and retain better control over our products,” says Craig Tindle, Systimax’s country manager. According to Systimax, the Middle East is set to see a marked increase in the adoption of intelligent infrastructure management solutions within the network, as regional enterprises seek centralised, cost effective and efficient tools to manage the physical layer of increasingly complex networks. “In three to five years I believe this type of technology will be everywhere. It is already beginning to feature on the CIO’s priority list,” states Tindle. Systimax explains that the real cost of network problems is growing at an alarming rate and, as more than 20% of network connections within an organisation’s physical infrastructure are changed or disrupted annually, the risk of network downtime faced by companies is considerable. “Today’s networks are mission critical right across the organisation and connectivity problems can become major issues within minutes,” Morris says. “A wrong patch in the horizontal may cut the CEO’s conference call; in the backbone it could disconnect a link to a server, bringing down a whole department,” says regional sales director, Dominic Morris. Traditionally, the physical connectivity layer is administered through manual re-arrangement of cabling connections, referred to as patching, and this makes it susceptible to human errors. There are also considerable issues in keeping track of manual changes across large geographically spread networks. “There are numerous network management software products being utilised in the Middle East that enable management of network components, allowing the monitoring of data traffic, generating alarms, and providing diagnostic reports to help troubleshoot network failures,” says Morris. “However, these products lack one function that is an integral part of any network — they are not capable of either documenting or monitoring the actual physical layer connectivity between devices on the network.” Morris says it is this challenge of being able to effectively police the physical layer that will see a growth in the number of enterprises investing in intelligent infrastructure management.